The Cowardly Lion
by TheDefiantOne
Summary: With the Second War over, Ron hopes for a quiet life. However, due to an accident, Ron is banished from the wizarding world and is forced to try and survive amongst muggles. Ron must grow and mature if he wants to live. Ron-centric story. Lang, violence.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, I have not received any money from this and all characters are JKR's. The only thing that is mine is this plot

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DING DONG.

DING DONG.

The man looked up from the table, curious at who would call on a Sunday afternoon. He scratched the velvet red hair that lightly covered his chin and stood up from the table. He walked slowly to the door. It chimed again. And then again. "Flipping hold your horses," He said. More vulgar language almost slipped out of his mouth, if he had not remembered the young boy who had been sitting at the dining room table with him. He knew that, even young, the boy could probably hear what the man was saying in this small townhouse.

Finally, he reached the door and opened it.

His eyebrows leapt up and his mouth slightly opened before he regained control of his body and closed his mouth, lowered his eyebrows. He looked at the two figures on this doorstep. Numerous thoughts flew through his mind and his heart picked up, thumping against his chest.

"Who are you?" he asked, hoping his eyes were deceiving him.

"Ron. It's me. Hermione." The figure on the left said. An "And Ginny" followed this quickly. The other figure had spoken. The man looked over the two. The woman on the left had long brown hair with eyes piercing his own, questioning him. The woman beside her had dark red hair, nearly in comparison to the man's.

"I know." He muttered. "A man can hope though." He paused, looking around them out onto the dark street. A third figure was down there, on the sidewalk, smoking.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Might we come in?" Hermione asked, "Its quite chilly out here and is not quite the best spot for a decent conversation." Ron looked at the two of them, sadly coming to the realization that his past, something that he had been running away from for years, was finally here. Calling on his doorstep as it were. _Why now?_ He wondered. He thought about it, but then realized that this was not ironic, nor a friendly house call. _Business,_ he realized. Grunting a bit, he pushed forward the screen that had been separating the women from him and opened the door fully, waving impatiently for them to enter. They quickly entered and headed down the hall, as Ron slammed the door shut. He turned and also walked down the hall, emerging in to the kitchen where the two women were standing in shock, staring at the young boy at the table who returned their whimsical stares.

"

"Charlie, please go to your room." Rom said. While it was worded like a question, the words came forcefully from his mouth and the boy, recognizing the tone, solemnly closed his coloring pack, picked up his crayons, and hurried off towards his bedroom. A pregnant pause consumed the kitchen as Ron moved around the women and sat down where he had previously been, on the bench next to where the boy had been, wishing he could return to the paper that sat in front of him.

"Ron? Is he…" Ginny whispered, finally ending the quiet that Ron actually found quite nice.

"None of your business?" he asked gruffly. "Yes. Now sit. Tell me what you came here to say and then you can get the hell out." This statement seemed to snap both women out of their trance. Ginny sat down across from him, while Hermione seemed to have also regained control of her vocal chords. "That's not a very pleasant way of greeting-"

"People who have not said one word to me or sent one bit of post in over 8 years."

"You don't understand!" Hermione said, rising to defend herself.

"And frankly I don't give a damn. I'm not in the mood to relive childhood arguments. WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he asked, slowly and loudly.

"Ron…" Ginny said, still in a quiet voice. "Since your…departure the Ministry has been maintaining a general lookout for you, just watching if you pop up on any radars. While several came up in between the time you left and around 2003, it only was in 2004 when the Ministry first began to hear much more than the general gibberish about you traveling on muggle… aeroplanes? And other nonsensical activities. We know what you have been up to, or at least enough as Harry wanted to tell us…" Ron soon tuned out the rest. _Harry?_ He had not heard that name said to him in a very long time. Hell, a while ago he had been able to stop thinking about that person, and in general everyone else he had ever really known. Ron was finally happy and now, He had sent people to disrupt little old Ron. _Sidekick Ron. Exiled Ron._

"Blah blah blah." He said, stopping Ginny as she was talking about….something. "I've said this already once this evening, but I'll say it again. I don't give a damn. What I have been up to these last few months is not any crime, and is even sanctioned and protected by the ICW. So, again, just say what you came here to say or I'll throw you out."

His voice showed that he was finished and tired of them already. _Never thought this sort of situation could ever have happen 8 years ago, _Ron thought, somewhat depressingly.

"We haven't come here to tell you anything other than watch out and know we are watching. While you may not be breaking any laws, the British Ministry of Magic does not in any way condone what you are doing and will be monitoring you now much, much more." This time Hermione spoke. It seemed she was getting frustrated as well, but seemed to be trying to control it. Ginny seemed ready to burst in to tears. _For shame_, Ron thought sarcastically

Ron looked back and forth at the two women across from him. "Let me get this straight. You show up on MY doorstep at fucking 7:30 at night on a bloody Sunday and waltz into MY house and expect to simply be allowed to say 'We're watching you.' Who the hell do you think you are? How dare you think you have any impact on what I do? You deserted me!"

"Ron that's not fair!" Hermione said again. "Do you not realize what you did IS a crime? You are lucky Harry convinced the Minister back then not to arrest you. Banishing you was letting you off easy. And after that, when Skeeter published her article about you ditching us on the hunt for the Horcruxes, I mean… you were reviled in the community Ron. Public support for you being captured and sent to Azkaban was terribly high."

Ron did all he could not to smirk, but some still got through. "You are pathetic. You don't even understand what I did, why it happened. How… how ashamed I am that that happened." He muttered.

"You are the pathetic one Ron Weasley!" Ginny screamed, informing Ron that, as old as she looked, the angry little girl he once knew was still there.

"You betrayed your family! You betrayed your friends! And you betrayed your country! And what have you been up to since you left? You fell off the map for a year. Then we learn of your travelling to the Balkans! And then back to here and later in the new millennium, to Arabia! What have you gotten yourself into?" her tears gushed down her cheeks and to her chin, trembling there and threatening to crash onto the table.

Ron sighed and looked down. While trying to ignore the random thought that popped into his head about needing to buy a new tablecloth, something actually made of real cloth, he inhaled deeply, before letting it all out slowly. He then returned his gaze to the redheaded girl.

"Do not raise your FUCKING voice to me in my own house and do not talk about things you do not understand." He said, his voice low and savage. He again feared that the boy down the hall could hear all of this, but frankly, it was too late to worry about that.

"What I have done," Ron continued. "Is living my life. As I recall, you, Ginevra Weasley or you Hermione Granger do not dictate that. For the first time in my life, I was on my own. And do you know what? I was happy." With that he stood and walked past them to the front door. He opened it, wordlessly demanding their withdrawal. The two slowly rose and headed out. Ginny walked right past him and towards the man still smokein on the sidewalk. Hermione stopped in front of him.

"I don't know who you are, but you are not Ron Weasley. The man I knew was honourable and loved his family."

"You've changed so much." Ron said lightly. Her eyes changed from their fierce glare to a hopeful gaze.

"In a bad way," he deadpanned. "It's weird, you know? Our positions have almost reversed. You, wanting so much to be accepted in the wizarding world, have probably all but forgotten about those silly days when you didn't know magic existed. You have become so… ignorant. Me? I've come to realize that muggles… well they aren't actually stupid barbarians who are so lost without magic. And I feel sorry for you, because looking at you, I fear that you have lost more of your soul than I have." With that he shoved her out onto the porch and let the screen close. "Lets not wait another 8 years to see each other… lets make it … hmm when's good for me…?" Ron pretended to consider the issue.

"Ah! I know. How bouts when hell freezes over?"

The door slammed shut before she could offer a witty, Ron doubted that but you never knew, retort. He put his back against the door, just lying there, thinking. While there, the little boy reappeared, this time holding a small teddy bear and playing with a button on his pajama top.

"Daddy?" the boy said, looking up at Ron with big blue eyes. "Who was that at the door?" Ron stared at him for a moment, before smiling at him. "Those were some old school mates of mine. They just wanted to come say hi."

"How come they haven't come by before?"

"Well I suspect they've been quite busy, yeah?"

"Oh," the boy said, pondering that possibility. "I guess so." Seizing the moment, Ron rolled off the door and walked towards the little boy. "Come on kiddo, your mums going to be home soon and she will kill me if you aren't in bed."

"Ok." And with that the two began to walk through the kitchen and down to the child's small bedroom.

"Say daddy?" the little boy said, looking up at his father again.

"Yeah Charlie?"

"How come they didn't want to meet me?"

Ron smiled again. "I don't know son. Some people are just rude like that. Its like they have the emotional range of a teaspoon." The boy giggled, not understanding the comment, but thinking it sounded funny. Ron on the other hand, though sounding jovial, meant that last bit as a bitter reminder of all he had been through and what he had come from.

After putting the boy down, Ron turned out the light and closed the door. He then looked down to the end of the hall. At the end was a door. Ron looked at it, both with a sense of longing and a sense of fear. Ignoring the voice in his head, which sounded quite girly yet for some reason reminded him of when he was around 12, Ron forced himself down to the door. It was white and plain but it secretly held something in it. The door screeched open, annoying Ron and forcing him to quickly open and close the door. Inside was his office. A small desk, a cabinet, and a few drawers were in the corner, with papers all over the desk. On the walls were several. Ron moved to the cabinet slowly. He put his left hand on the handle, and for a split second considered turning back. But the intelligent side of him was gone and the childish side took over. Ron yanked open the cabinet and set his gaze upon the item that was driving him on his quest. _14-inch willow containing one unicorn tail-hair._

"Ye olde faithful wand" Ron muttered.

The wand in front of him had not been touched in several years since its return to service several weeks ago. Ron's head buzzed with memories. He shook it roughly. Now was not the time to reminisce. Seemingly agreeing with him, the front door opened and shut violently. The sound of a bag dropping to the ground and keys dropping on a table echoed down the hall.

"Ronald?" a feminine voice called.

"Be right there babe." Ron replied. He looked back at the cabinet. Considering the early conversation, Ron closed the cabinet doors and stuck the wand into his pants pocket. He looked around the room slowly, before turning out the light and closing the door. _Hiding from the past?_ he wondered_. No… just trying to balance it with the present so somehow the future won't be fucked up._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing

As the rain poured down on London, the sound of a pop echoed down one alley of the large and sprawling city. Ron Weasley apparated and stumbled down it, before sliding against a stonewall and lying down on the concrete. Ron was taking deep breaths and short, sobbing noises came out of his mouth. As the rain continued to fall, pounding his face and soaking his clothing, he attempted to brush away the tears from his eyes. _How is this all happening to me?_ Ron wondered to himself. _What the hell has happened to my life?_

He raked his hand through his wet hair, and sniffed. "Well. Not going to get anything out of lying here in rubbish and the rain." Ron sighed. He slid up the wall, grabbed the bag he had tossed on the ground and began to slowly stagger towards the street. He looked back and forth up and down the street. Not that many cars were out this late at night.

_What do I do now?_ Ron wondered. He looked up and down the street again. Down the road a ways, it looked like there was hotel of some sort. Ron decided that he could figure out a way of getting a room there and set off in the hotel's direction. As he walked in the still tumultuous downpour, Ron thought about the past day. It ate at him, that his friends had… deserted him? After all they had been through? It made him… hurt, but also made him feel an anger and rage that he had not quite experienced in his 18 years. Those who mattered most in his life had simply shown him the door, saying it was better to run than stay. _Bastards,_ Ron thought. _Cowards._

With his thoughts filled with rage, Ron quickly arrived outside the hotel. There was a man at the reception desk that looked like he was enjoying his job about as much as Ron enjoyed Potions.

Ron quietly entered the hotel, trying not to let the middle-aged man hear the door open. As soon as he was halfway through the door, he struck. Ron pulled out his wand. "Stupefy," he whispered. The weak curse flew towards the man and hit him, knocking him away from his work and onto the floor behind the desk. Ron looked around the room, made sure no one else was around, and jogged over to the desk. He quickly went behind it and snagged a key off a hook. It was on the main level and while nothing fancy, Ron wasn't picky. He turned away and headed down the hall. He quickly found the room, opened it and fell onto the bed. Sleep quickly claimed him…but his dreams were anything but pleasant.

Ron was back home, standing outside a large, oddly built house. It was summer at the Burrow and, as Ron looked through the window, everyone was sitting down to dinner. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, are talking together at the table while George and Bill are laughing as they walk into the dining room. Charlie is helping Mrs. Weasley and Percy is… well being Percy. Suddenly, Mr. Weasley walked into the room. Ron, who had been smiling at the happy scene, felt a chill go through the air. The sun that had been shining down on him became clouded by darkness. There was a chill and a cold breeze that swept through the grasses and slammed into Ron. Disoriented for a moment, when he looked back in he saw the family crowded around Mr. Weasley. 'Oh God,' Ron thought. 'He's telling them about me.'

To reinforce his dark thoughts, Mr. Weasley suddenly looked up and with dark, cold eyes, glared at Ron. His hand rose, pointing straight at Ron. His mother began to wail his name and began to destroy the food with the cutlery and seemed to be getting ready to wreck the whole table. Harry was holding Hermione and Ginny, who were both weeping, and he was looking at Ron with a smug look on his face. With a wink and a smirk, he said "I always knew. Took you long enough to show your true colours."

Percy was still sitting at the table, looking at Ron with a blank expression on his face and clapping slowly, emphasizing each hit. His other brothers were slowly walking towards him, cursing his name. His mother let out a blood-curdling scream and, firing a giant curse at the clock, blew the hand that bore his name to pieces. The brothers were at the window. Ron was trying to hold it down, to keep them away from him. He was pleading with them, trying to say it wasn't his fault. But no one would listen, the sound of his mother screaming and his brothers cursing him rang in his ears. Fred was almost through the window, his hand bloodied but his face showing no pain. "No! no! It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault," Ron shouted. But they continued to ignore him. The brothers finally got outside the house, and were walking towards him. Ron sank to his knees, and sobbed. "Please don't hit me. Please!" The three looked at each other and smiled, then they began to-

Ron awoke violently to pounding all around him. "Huh?" he asked himself. The noise came again. "Oh shit." It was his hotel room door. Ron groaned as he sat up and moved slowly to the door. He peered through the peephole to see the man he had hit with his curse hours ago. The problem was he had friends. Two men with black vests and funny looking hats to be exact.

"Open up!" the receptionist shouted.

"Shit!" Ron murmured, pulling away from the door. Could the man see in through the same hole as Ron could see them? Ron didn't know and he was not sticking around long enough to ask. He ran back to the bed and grabbed his bag. _Time to go._ He got up and was about to apparate when he realized that he was screwed. The previous night he had simply apparated randomly in London, not really caring where his decision took him. Now… he had no place to apparate in the muggle world. With that exit impossible, he whipped out his wand and turned to the window of his room.

"Reducto!" he said. The curse spat from his wand and slammed into the window, destroying it. Ron waited till the dust had cleared and rushed out of the hole he had made. Out on the street at dusk, he took off down the road, going wherever his feet would take him.

Ten or so minutes later, Ron stopped, gasping for breath and receiving many weird looks from the few people on the street at the still early hour. _Damn, I am in horrible shape._ He had not exactly done that much strenuous activity since the fight at Hogwarts, but he did not think he had gotten as lazy as he was now. Still breathing heavily, he stared around at his new surroundings. He was standing in the middle of a square. "Leicester Square," Ron read off a nearby sign. "Not bad."

He wandered through it for a bit, till he came upon a bench. He paused, looked around to see if anyone was watching, no one was. He lay down and closed his eyes. _Waste not…_

Unfortunately, it seemed like he had just closed his eyes before Ron was being shook awake.

"Oi! Kid! Get the fuck off the bench and get the hell out of here."

Ron saw, through the glare of the sun, a woman standing over him. She wore the same weird clothing that those two men with the receptionist did, except she also wore a bright green luminescent jacket. The word "Police" was on the front of this jacket. "Huh?" was all Ron could respond with.

This seemed to make the woman even angrier. "I said," she said, while grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up to a sitting position, "wake up.

"Shite! All right. I'm going. Damn. Can't let a homeless kid get some shut eye," Ron said.

This seemed make the policewoman sputters. She began to dig into her pockets. Ron thought she was reaching for some sort of weapon. He thought about running, but knew he was in no state too. 'I give up' was on the tip of his tongue.

Instead of a weapon, she tossed a few pieces of parchment at him. "There!" she said. "Go get yourself some coffee and a scone and get to a shelter or back home."

"Can't go home." Ron said, as he picked up the… pound? Muggle money! Ron finally had some. As if hearing his thoughts, his stomach growled loudly.

The woman standing over him groaned. "Look," she lowered her voice and leaned towards Ron. Over on Endell Street number. 83, I think, there's this place called St. Mungo's-"

"What!!" Ron exclaimed, his mouth finally working.

The woman pretended to not hear him. "St. Mungo's is a homeless shelter. They will help you out, give you food, help you find a job, all that good stuff. I've given you enough quid to make it through the day. It's your choice if you go there or not. If not, they sometime do soup runs over at Waterloo Square, round 9 o'clock." With that, she stood and motioned for him to get going.

Ron was still confused about what the woman had meant. He understood what a homeless shelter was, but… ahh. Suddenly the light popped on. She was trying to help him. She felt... pity? Most of the time Ron would not have accepted charity from anyone, no matter if it were water in a barren desert. However, right now… he was willing to make an exception. His stomach churned again and begged for relief. In full agreement, Ron stood up and walked towards the nearest source of food, a restaurant called 'Burger King'. Ron entered the building and was immediately hit with strange smells he was unfamiliar with. He saw men and women, even kids, eating odd looking sandwiches. _If all these muggles are eating them, it must be edible._

Ron ordered something called chicken nuggets and juice and sat down at a booth at the back of the establishment. He ravenously began to eat. Before he knew it, the 6 pieces that had been in the packaging were in his stomach. _How do muggles survive on such small servings?_ Ron wondered. He wanted more and they hadn't cost much… No, he told himself. _Need to get moving again_ _and head for this homeless shelter place. _With that, Ron left his trash and juice on the table and left the building. He began his search for the other St. Mungo's.

Unfortunately, as easy as it had been for the female constable to tell him the address, it took Ron most of the afternoon to navigate London's confusing roads and side streets. Ron was sweating under the hot summer sun as he finally stood outside the hostels doors. Taking a deep breath, he walked in.

Two weeks later, Ron Weasley was a semi-changed man. He had found a place to lay his head, albeit a small bed, and received daily meals. He had also been able to get several books from those running the hostel. As much as Ron hated studying and general education, he knew that he needed to understand the place he now resided if he hoped to survive. He slowly read through a book about London, describing its history, important landmarks and other general information. He also was happy to read through a book about muggle sports, while nowhere close to being the level of quidditch, was better than nothing. Ron also spent his time wandering the city, getting to know it. One of those days, sitting in a tube station, Ron's eyes fell upon what looked like a newspaper. However, there was something wrong with it. Or right with it! The pictures were moving! Ron reached under the chairs that it was under and unfolded it. For the first time in weeks, he finally had some idea of what was going on in the wizarding world. "Minister signs new Goblin Treaty… Hogwarts new Headmistress announces positions filled… Quidditch World Cup in Denmark still on… Damn I'd wanted to got that!" Ron's exclamation, along with a slew of follow on curses, made several men and women near him glare. He had a fleeting thought of still being able to go, before realizing that with no money at all, muggle or galleon, he was stuck in this rut of a life. "I need to get to my money at Gringotts." Ron muttered as he boarded the train. As he sat down he realized that that was it. If he could break into Diagon Alley, Ron could get the reward money for his part in fighting Voldemort and then go.. well wherever. Herm- SHE had done that back in the day. The thousand galleons, plus some other money he had put away, would get him nearly 6 thousand pounds. With that, Ron could do well, hell he could do better than he ever thought he would. With that, Ron began his planning to break back into the Magical World.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long. Life gets in the way of fun unfortunately. I was going to have this go longer, but felt ending it here made more sense instead of ending the chapter later on.


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